


Getting Shit Done in Effective and Not Terribly Moral Ways

by ladydragon76



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Warning: Disturbing Mental Images, Warning: violence, character: megatron, character: optimus prime, character: prowl, character: skywarp, character: soundwave, character: starscream, character: thundercracker, genre: dark, rating: R - Freeform, verse: g1, warning: canon- what canon?, warning: character death, warning: mind-fuckery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 13:49:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2853053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydragon76/pseuds/ladydragon76
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> They didn’t cut the head off the snake, they unlocked the cage, threw wide the door, and let the demon slip his chains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting Shit Done in Effective and Not Terribly Moral Ways

**Author's Note:**

> **‘Verse:** G1  
>  **Series:** None  
>  **Rating:** R  
>  **Characters:** Jazz, Starscream, Soundwave, Skywarp, Thundercracker  
>  **Warnings:** Character Death, Non-explicit Mention of Violence  
>  **Notes:** I took the title directly from the comments on tumblr post because it’s just entirely too perfect, but credit for the words to Mighty-Grifo, as well as White-Aster who, between the two of them and their comments, set the bunnies for this fic after my ankles.

Starscream jolted as his comms pinged. He looked quickly around the room, cursing himself that he’d dropped into recharge, but he was alone and still functioning.

“What?” he demanded, checking the time. It was still the dark hours of the morning, and Starscream wondered how long ago the ‘victory’ party had ended.

“ _Vortex deactivated_ ,” Soundwave reported. “ _Megatron not answering comms._ ”

For a moment neither of them made a sound. “Have you checked his quarters?”

“ _Negative._ ”

“Send Rav-”

“ _No,_ ” Soundwave all but snapped. The word certainly more forceful that he usually bothered to speak.

Starscream didn’t exactly blame him, so nodded to himself as he carefully slid from his berth and crept toward the door of his quarters. “Have the Constructicons go and check his quarters. He was rather drunk last I saw him. If he doesn’t answer, have them cut their way in.”

“ _Hook currently tending Combaticons._ ”

Starscream paused to consider as he unlocked his door and ever so cautiously poked his head out into the corridor. “Mixmaster can stay and assist Hook.”

“ _Acknowledged. Location?_ ” Soundwave asked.

“In route to Skywarp and Thundercracker’s quarters. We’ll be to the Command Center as soon as I can be sure Skywarp won’t ‘port us into a bulkhead.”

Thundercracker answered the door, looking sleepy, but it was Skywarp who was nearly impossible to rouse.

“He had a few cubes of high grade.”

“Good, then he should have plenty of energy to teleport the three of us wherever we should have need to go.” Starscream pushed Skywarp’s shoulder again, but got nothing more than a slurred grumble. “For frag’s sake. Skywarp!” He dealt a stinging blow to a black wingtip, and would have smirked at the howl it elicited if he wasn’t so tense with fear.

“Why do we need to teleport anywhere?” Thundercracker asked.

“Vortex is dead.”

“So?” Skywarp whined. “Hate that fragger. He thinks ‘no, gross, get your hands off me’ means ‘yes, frag me hard’.”

“Dead?” Thundercracker echoed.

“Yes, dead.” Starscream grabbed Skywarp by the arm. “And Megatron’s not answering his comms.”

“Probably shut ‘em off. Oh come _on_ , Screamer! I’m still fragging drunk. Just let me sleep!”

“Get up!” Starscream snapped.

“Get up, Warp,” Thundercracker said more gently, and helped Starscream drag their trine mate from the berth. “If Vortex is dead, then we’ve got trouble and you can’t just sleep through it.”

“Uuuuhhhhg.”

Starscream ignored the groaning, and held Skywarp steady until he had his balance. “I need you to teleport all three of us to the Command Center.”

“I’m drunk, Star,” Skywarp whined. “I’ll put us through a wall again.”

“No you won’t.” Starscream gave the other Seeker a shake. “Focus. Once we’re there, you can sit in Thundercracker’s lap and recharge some more. Just get us there.” Where Soundwave and his little pack of spies were. Where Starscream would have the best chance of survival himself.

Skywarp groaned again, but grabbed both Starscream and Thundercracker. “I hate you so much.”

The landing was rough since Skywarp’s aim was a little off, but Starscream would take falling a few feet to the floor over being stuck _in_ it any day. Especially this day.

“Any word?” he demanded, turning to find Soundwave.

“Negative. Constructicons in route.”

Starscream crossed to the console Soundwave sat at, and asked in a hushed voice, “You have them on open comms?”

“Affirmative. I can hear them-”

“ _He’s dead! He’s fraggin’ dead!_ ” cut over the _ship-wide_ comms.

“Is that Drag Strip?” Thundercracker asked.

Soundwave pushed a button, voice a cool monotone despite the fact that Starscream could see him trembling. “Drag Strip, confirm. Who is deactivated?”

“ _Motormaster!_ ” In the background they could hear wild keening.

“Sparklings,” Skywarp whispered, but without any malice or mockery for once.

“The gestalt bond,” Thundercracker murmured, and huddled closer to Skywarp.

Starscream leaned over Soundwave’s shoulder to comm the medbay. “Hook. Motormaster’s dead. We’re going to try to find someone to help the other Stunticons to you.”

“ _Fine. I have the Combaticons in forced recharge for now. They’re stable so long as they’re unconscious._ ”

“Good. Keep them that way. Starscream out.” Starscream straightened, meeting Soundwave’s optics. “Tell Scrapper to cut through Megatron’s door.”

“I don’t get it,” Skywarp said. “Why the kid? I mean he was a fragger, but why Motormaster? He’s not like Vortex.”

Starscream shook his helm. “Idiot. It was Motormaster that killed Prowl.”

“Ok. So then why Vortex?” Skywarp demanded, arms spreading out. “Tell me that then, huh?”

Gathering patience, Starscream faced his trine mate fully. “Because Vortex deserved to die and _I_ can’t control him the way Megatron did.” He held up a hand, forefinger pointing up. “Motormaster killed Prowl.” He straightened his middle finger too. “Vortex was heinous and committed atrocities. I certainly hadn’t meant to release _him_ when I was collecting sparks for the Combaticon team.” He raised his third finger as well. “And Megatron killed Optimus Prime while he was distracted by his Second’s death.”

“But Megatron-”

“Is probably dead in his berth,” Starscream cut in.

Soundwave chose that moment to tense. “Affirmative. Scrapper reports: Megatron deactivated.” His voice became more choked and frightened as he spoke. “All vital lines sliced. Megatron… bled dry.”

Starscream flicked his wings back, squared his shoulders, and cycled a deep breath. “Ok. Soundwave, open the ship-wide comms. I want what I say to go through every frelling speaker we’ve got.”

Soundwave nodded, hands moving to obey, then angling the microphone for Starscream.

“Attention all Decepticons. Megatron is dead, and so are Vortex and Motormaster. As Second in Command I’m ordering a full and unconditional ceasefire to this war. Jazz, if you’re still around to hear this, please don’t kill any more of my people.”

For a moment there was complete silence, then the comms crackled. “ _And why shouldn’t I kill all of ya? Not like any of ya would stop killin’ Autobots if I asked nice._ ”

Starscream tried to suppress the shiver, but his wingtips still trembled. “Because you’ve done what you came to do. How long has Megatron been lying silently dead? Then you went for the less closely bonded gestalt member before going after Motormaster. If you had wanted to slit all our lines in our recharge, you would have, _then_ you would have taken out the gestalts.”

“ _Think ya know my mind, huh?_ ”

There was no suppressing the shiver this time. “Merely deductive reasoning,” Starscream said as smoothly as he could manage. “You _could_ have killed us in our recharge, and I’m, for one, grateful you didn’t. I haven’t agreed with Megatron’s policies in a long time, ask anyone, and I’m hoping to find you more reasonable.”

“ _Plannin’ ta follow me as your leader, Screamer? Doesn’t sound like you,_ ” Jazz said.

“I’d rather die than be a slave, but I’ll take peace before there aren’t enough of our kind to avoid extinction. I’m sure that if we sat down like the reasonable mechs Megatron wasn’t, we could work out something.” Starscream smirked, and added rather flippantly. “Not like you can’t just sneak in and murder me any time you want after all.”

“ _True,_ ” Jazz agreed. “ _Ya are awful cute all curled up on your berth too._ ”

Starscream’s energon froze in his lines, spark stuttering.

“ _Tell ya what, Starscream,_ ” Jazz continued on, tone blithe though he absolutely _had_ to know how his words affected Starscream. “ _Melt those fraggers down. Every last bit o’ them, then bring all the ‘Cons willin’ ta try peace ta that nice open valley there in front o’ the_ Ark _. I’ll give ya this one chance ta show me ya’re really done with war._ ” He paused, and Starscream had to admit the effect was as chilling as Jazz meant it to be. “ _Frag this up, and ya won’t live ta regret it._ ”

The comms crackled again, and then went silent. Starscream shared a look with Soundwave, noting how pale the mech’s visor was. His own optics were probably almost pink.

They all jumped badly, Skywarp yelping as the intruder alarms sounded.

Soundwave’s fingers flew over the console keys, and the screen displayed an open hatch just outside the moon pool. “Alarm triggered here.”

“He wanted us to know he was leaving,” Starscream said, wings sinking in relief.

“You don’t know he’s gone,” Thundercracker said.

“He is.” Starscream was sure of it. “He’s got no reason to stay right now.”

“To watch us maybe?”

“Hush, Skywarp.” Starscream flicked a hand at Soundwave. “I want the Constructicons to collect the other Stunticons, then get the shells of the other three to the smelter. Have Laserbeak _and_ Buzzsaw record us melting them down. We’ll send Dirge over with the datachip as a show of good faith.”

“This is insane,” Skywarp whimpered.

Starscream snorted, watching Soundwave for a moment as he obeyed before turning to his trine mate. “No. Insane was killing the only two mechs that were keeping Jazz on the moral high road. I’m still not sure he isn’t just going to destroy us all, but on the off chance he’s really going to let us live, I’m going to do exactly what he wants.”

And if that failed, he’d get the frag off the planet and find somewhere else in the universe to live in the hopes Jazz wouldn’t follow him.


End file.
